


Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (and Also A Girlfriend)

by Slicki



Series: Oh, Fantasy Free Me [1]
Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/F, alcohol mention, inspired largely by the witcher 3, mild violence, my basis for this was 'what's the strangest situation jeongyeon could call jihyo pretty in', not a hp au despite the title!, they hunt monsters. it gets gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-14 11:17:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21014888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slicki/pseuds/Slicki
Summary: "You're like two sword-crossed lovers. It's cute""The phrase is 'star-crossed' lovers.""What? That's stupid. It was daytime when you two met."orMaybe, Jihyo thinks, the real reward you get from hunting monsters is the cute strangers you meet along the way.





	Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (and Also A Girlfriend)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for TFG Vol. 1, inspired by iconic twice quotes (and also my love of the witcher)
> 
> JY: Firstly, I compliment you for being pretty.  
JH: What's wrong with you?  
JH: Don't you lie.  
JH: What's wrong with you?
> 
> Hope you enjoy!=]

The leaves rustle just so, caught in an invisible current that carries with it the scent of fall. The sun is high, but not yet ready to fully leave the embrace of the clouds that surround it. It is, Jihyo thinks, truly a lovely day to smack something with a warhammer.  
  
Jihyo breathes in, letting her eyes slip shut and extending her awareness around her. The pack of wraiths she's been hunting leave no trace as they move. They merely glide over the earth and slip through everything they encounter. They solidify only when they choose to, and Jihyo knows that she has to tread carefully if she wants to avoid a direct confrontation.  
  
The sound of a branch breaking hits her ears, and Jihyo tenses. There should be nothing, not creature nor human, in this area. She had scouted it out two days ago when she had first determined that this stretch of the field would be her hunting grounds, and she had taken the warding stones Sana had given her and placed them around the perimeter of this particular clearing. Any living thing that approached it would feel a deep panic seize hold of them. So what the hell had broken that branch? Jihyo hasn't so much as heard a bird in the last hour.  
  
She hears footsteps moving towards her, and, with a brief flash of panic, Jihyo realizes that whatever is approaching has gotten far too close to her for her liking. Jihyo slides her hammer back into its holster and goes for her daggers. She has a good amount of cover thanks to the bushes she’s hunkered down in.  
  
More footsteps. Due west. Roughly 10 feet away. She crouches down, readies herself, and leaps, prepared to subdue whatever had so easily invaded her space.  
  
The figure—humanoid, Jihyo quickly deduces, lets out a yell when Jihyo makes contact, and they scrabble in the bushes for a few seconds before Jihyo is able to successfully pin her opponent. It’s not too hard, all things considered; it’s clear that they weren’t expecting this attack.  
  
There’s a body trapped underneath hers and hands gripping her shoulders, but Jihyo has a blade to the interloper’s throat. She isn’t worried. “Explain yourself.”  
  
“I’m here to check the rune traps I set, that’s all. Just a hunter looking for her stuff.” The stranger very slowly removes her hands from Jihyo’s shoulders, moving them towards herself until Jihyo can clearly see that they aren’t holding a weapon.  
  
Jihyo also sees the scars that litter this woman’s hands, the callouses and cuts.  
  
She doesn’t move. “I placed barriers around the clearing. How did you get past them?”  
  
“Oh. Well.” The stranger’s expression grows sheepish. “I saw the keystone and just disturbed the connection. I assumed it was leftover from some guild’s training exercises.”  
  
Jihyo’s hand tightens in the fabric of the stranger’s shirt. Her next words leave her throat as more of a growl than anything else. “You what? There’s a pack of wraiths in this area. That barrier was supposed to protect people!”  
  
The woman chuckles, seemingly unaware of the way she’s all but pressing herself into Jihyo’s blade. Jihyo’s never met someone who could forget about a blade pressed to their throat, but this stranger might just have changed that. “You don’t need to protect people. The wraiths have probably been neutralized by my trap at this point. It works fast.”  
  
“A trap,” Jihyo spits. “You can’t get wraiths with a trap alone! You need to force them to be corporeal and then perform the purification ritual. A trap will only hold them in place.”  
  
“You can if you draw your runic arrays with silver powder that’s been crushed during a quarter moon,” the woman answers. “Also, can you get off of me now? I’m losing feeling in my toes.”  
  
Jihyo rocks back onto her heels, sheathing her dagger and rising to her feet in one motion. At this point, she’s pretty confident that she’s not about to be attacked. Whoever this woman is, she seems set on her traps. Regardless, Jihyo keeps an eye on her as she rises to her feet.  
  
“Silver powder runes won’t eliminate wraiths.” The stranger is tall, well, taller than Jihyo at least, draped in a dark blue cloak that obscures the finer details of her figure. There’s a smudge of dirt on her cheek that Jihyo knows is her fault but that she feels no inclination to apologize for.  
  
“They will where I come from.”  
  
“And where is that, exactly,” Jihyo asks, scanning the cloak for a guild crest. Her hand twitches towards her dagger when she fails to find one anywhere on the stranger’s clothes. It would be just her luck to run into a guildless hunter on what should’ve been a simple hunt.  
  
“You don’t need to know, so I’m not going to tell you,” the stranger answers, voice bright. Her eyes fall to Jihyo’s hand, and her face shifts. “I’m not guildless, though, so you can relax. You seem like the type of hardass who would fight the guildless on sight.”  
  
Jihyo blinks, caught off-guard by the way the stranger’s smile had sharpened as she spoke. Her stance is wide, hands splayed in front of her, far from any weapon Jihyo could see. But still. There’s a thread of tension running through her, and Jihyo recognizes the thinly concealed predator that every hunter carries within them.  
  
“I don’t see how engaging in combat with a traitor to their guild makes me an ‘hardass’,” Jihyo says.  
  
The other woman openly laughs at that, and Jihyo is once more taken aback. The sound is high pitched and warm, even if it does remind her of a loose wagon wheel. Jihyo finds herself growing even more curious about the stranger with the squeaky laugh.  
  
A hand lifts, cards through short black hair.  
  
Correction, Jihyo thinks, the _pretty_ stranger with the squeaky laugh. And then she immediately scolds herself. She’s been spending far too much of her downtime with Sana and Momo.  
  
“Sometimes,” the stranger begins, “good people that happen to be hunters are asked to do bad things by the people in charge. Sometimes they do them. Sometimes they don’t. Refusing to kill an innocent creature isn’t worth a lifetime of disdain.” The words are measured, firm. They sound almost rehearsed.  
  
“There are no innocent—” Jihyo begins before remembering why exactly it is that she’s here having this conversation. “I’m not here to talk politics. I’m here to get rid of wraiths that have been terrorizing innocent people for months.”  
  
The stranger rolls her eyes, and never before has Jihyo been so tempted to let a ‘Do you know who I am?’ fall from her lips. Surely the—Jihyo struggles for a phrase harsher than ‘dumbass’ but decides that it’s good enough when the word ‘gorgeous’ also appears in her brain—tall dumbass standing in front of her would show proper respect to a guildmaster.  
  
Though, these days, most hunters recognize her on sight, so it’s been awhile since she’s had to say ‘I’m Park Jihyo, head of the Setting Sun Hunter’s Guild.’  
  
“I told you. The wraiths have already been taken care of.”  
  
“And I told you, that’s not how those work.”  
  
“Not with that attitude.” The stranger turns and begins walking away without another word.  
  
“Where the hell are you going,” Jihyo calls, well aware that her stealth is all but shot at this point.  
  
There’s no verbal response, just a lazy wave from the retreating stranger that could mean anything from ‘Come and find out.’ to ‘There’s a 2-for-1 sale down at Chou’s for leather oil.’ Jihyo chooses to believe the former and goes after the figure stepping into the clearing.  
  
“Listen,” the stranger pauses. “Actually, who are you, anyway? I’ve been calling you ‘aggressive bush woman’ in my head.”  
  
“Aggressive bush—” Jihyo stops herself short and takes a deep breath. This day is already not going according to plan, and she can already feel a headache developing. Brawling with a stranger would only make things worse, despite what a little voice in the back of her mind is telling her.  
  
She breathes out through her nose and answers. “My name is Jihyo, Park Jihyo.”  
  
She waits for any sign of recognition, half expects the stranger to fall to her knees in apology, but the stranger just smiles and nods. “Nice to meet you, Jihyo Park Jihyo. I’m Yoo Jeongyeon.”  
  
Jihyo runs the name against the list of active hunters she knows but comes up short. The name means absolutely nothing to her. She ignores the prideful grin being directed at her, years of exposure to Dahyun’s bad jokes teaching her that lack of acknowledgment is the way to go.  
  
The stranger, Jeongyeon, stops at a seemingly random point in the field and gestures to her feet. “See.”  
  
Jihyo does, in fact, see. She sees a yellow-green patch of grass, a caterpillar, and literally nothing to help convince her that Jeongyeon isn’t halfway off of her horse.  
  
“Oh wait. Sorry,” Jeongyeon says. Jihyo hears fabric rustling and flits her eyes over to see Jeongyeon withdraw a small pouch from her cloak. “It’s guild-warded,” she explains, sprinkling a purple dust on the nondescript patch of grass.  
  
“So you do belong to a guild,” Jihyo states.  
  
Jeongyeon grins, a crooked thing that immediately assures Jihyo that Jeongyeon is not part of her guild. She would’ve remembered that smile.  
  
“Doesn’t every hunter? Also, look down.”  
  
Jihyo complies, mini-history lesson on the existence on unaffiliated hunters throughout history jettisoned from her mind when she sees what she couldn’t before. There, at her feet, are eight wraith essences, surrounded by a circle of runestones, silver inlays glinting in the mid-afternoon sun.  
  
“How,” she breathes, mind struggling to grapple with this revelation.  
  
“My guild may be headed by the most annoying person in the world, but her eye for new and untapped talent is impeccable.”  
  
Jihyo hears Jeongyeon reach into her cloak again, but she can’t bring herself to look away from the small stones that hold the essence of the wraiths. They reflect no light, and moving even a few inches closer to them invokes a deep feeling of despair.  
  
A gloved hand enters her field of vision, scooping up the stones and swiftly dropping the stones into two pouches. “Here,” Jeongyeon says, extending her hand. “I feel bad about crashing your solo hunting party.”  
  
Jihyo bristles, pushing away the proffered hand. “I don’t need your pity. You finished the hunt. They’re yours.”  
  
“You were here first, and you would’ve gotten them,” Jeongyeon says.  
  
“No,” Jihyo sighs, irritation draining out of her as resignation trickles in, “I wouldn’t have. Your trap was in place. You won fair and square.”  
  
“Won’t your guildmaster be mad,” Jeongyeon asks, and Jihyo can hear genuine concern in her voice. “The bounty for wraiths isn’t super high, but it’s not low, either.”  
  
All Jihyo can do is laugh. “No, she won’t mind all that much, trust me. She’ll mostly just be extremely curious as to how I got my hunt taken by someone who came equipped only with runes.”  
  
Jeongyeon grins again, finally pulls her hand back. “Well, guild secrets are guild secrets, but if you’re interested, I usually do my bounties in this area. I like things that can fly.”  
  
Jihyo raises an eyebrow. “Are you inviting me to do another hunt with you?”  
  
The grin slips into a smirk. “I’m not inviting you to do anything. I’m just telling you where to find me if you want.”  
  
The clocktower rings, splitting the air between them. Jeongyeon turns in the direction of the noise, hands dropping. “That’s my call to leave. It was nice meeting you, Jihyo, even if you do have questionable politics.”  
  
And then she’s gone, form disappearing into the forest before Jihyo can so much as say goodbye. She looks down, sees one untouched wraith essence on the ground, and fights the urge to chase after Jeongyeon and tackle her into the ground. Again.  
  
//  
  
That evening, Jihyo makes her way into the guild hall, greeting various guildmembers on her way to Sana and Momo’s workshop. She throws open the door and is met with a rush of heat and two very wide and expectant pairs of eyes that belong to her blacksmith and her potions master.  
  
“How did it go,” Momo asks, wiping her hands on her apron and pushing a chair in Jihyo’s direction. She takes one last look at the sword she was sharpening and then takes a seat of her own. “Did the great Park Jihyo shake all of the rust off and wow those simple villagers?”  
  
“And did you get those potion ingredients I asked for?” Sana gestures to the shelves behind her. “If you want more cat eye potion, I sure hope you did.”  
  
Jihyo rolls her eyes and tosses Sana her knapsack. “Everything is in there. Chou’s was fully stocked, per usual. As for shaking the rust off…” Jihyo unhooks a pouch from her belt and tosses it to Momo.  
  
Momo eagerly opens the pouch, and Jihyo slumps into a chair to wait for Momo’s inevitable question.  
  
“There’s only one stone.”  
  
“Correct.”  
  
“A pack of wraiths means more than one wraith.”  
  
“Also correct.”  
  
“So. You lost them?”  
  
Jihyo sighs and drops her head into her hands before answering. She hears the clinking of glass against the countertop, and looks up just in time to see Sana pouring four shots of some unidentified liquid. Jihyo guesses (hopes) that it’s the liquor Sana mentioned brewing last week.  
  
“Here,” Sana says, pushing two of the shot glasses in Jihyo’s direction. “I have no idea what happened, but you look pathetic. Are you okay?”  
  
Jihyo scoffs before downing one of the glasses, welcoming the burn in her throat. “It’s nothing terrible. It’s just embarrassing.”  
  
“Embarrassing?” Jihyo can feel Momo perk up. “You got embarrassed? Details.”  
  
For a moment, Jihyo considers not saying anything, if only because she knows the faces Momo and Sana would make at her would be good for a laugh. But she knows there’s a reason she came straight to these two. Being leader of one of the top two guilds in the empire isn’t easy by any means, and Sana and Momo have long been the people Jihyo turned to when things got just a little too tough.  
  
“Well, it all started when I was trying to figure out how I wanted to do my final approach,” Jihyo begins. All of the prep work had been done perfectly, but then I heard this branch snap.”  
  
//  
  
Jihyo looks through the pile of open bounties on her desk, shooting a questioning glance at the woman standing in front of her. “Dahyun, what is this?”  
  
Dahyun grins, rocking forward slightly. “Current open bounties.”  
  
Jihyo places down her quill and leans forward, lacing her fingers together. “And why have you, my beloved apprentice, placed these on my desk?”  
  
“Sana mentioned that you were looking to take on another hunt sometime soon, especially one that involves flight. She suggested I share some with you sometime this week,” Dahyun answers, tapping the stack of papers. “This top one looks pretty promising.”  
  
“Dahyun,” Jihyo sighs, picking up the bounties, “my hunt last month was a onetime thing. It’s not something I’m planning on doing every week. I have responsibilities.”  
  
Dahyun frowns. “That’s what I’m for! You’ve trained me for years to fight, but you’ve also trained me to cover logistics.” Dahyun leans forward, covering Jihyo’s hands with her own. “Jihyo, you’ve been happier for the last few weeks. Everyone’s noticed. Hunting is part of you. It always will be. Don’t forget that.”  
  
Jihyo looks into her apprentice’s pleading eyes, down at the bounty calling for the head of a griffin, and tries to think of a reason not to say yes. Everything Dahyun is saying is correct. She loves the thrill of a hunt, the smooth slide of her hammer in her hand. Getting out last month, despite the intrusion of a well-equipped stranger, had been the most freeing thing she’s done in ages.  
  
“Okay,” she agrees. “I’ll do it, but you better have this supply agreement with the Lee’s settled by the time I get back.”  
  
Dahyun salutes, expression one that Jihyo doesn’t have the heart to tell her comes off as adorable rather than serious. “Can do, Guildmaster Park.”  
  
//  
  
Jihyo, slowly shifts her weight over to her right foot. This tree is certainly not the most comfortable place she’s spent three hours, but in this particular section of the highlands it’s the best cover she’s got.  
  
According to what she’s been told over the last few days, the griffin likes to come down and prey on sheep around midday, which means that Jihyo should be expecting her target any minute now. She tries, as she has been for most of the morning, to avoid thinking about who else she could run into out here. She tells herself that she picked this bounty because it happened to be on top of the pile, and griffins did always put up a good fight.  
  
And yes, maybe the image of a lopsided smile had flashed through her mind when she reviewed her notes on how best cripple the wings of a griffin, but that was just simple association.  
  
A cry crashes through the air, and Jihyo looks up to see the form of a griffin high in the air. It’s circling, and she figures she has a couple minutes to get into position before it attempts to go after it’s sheep-of-the-day. There won’t be any runes at play in this hunt, only good, old-fashioned combat.  
  
Jihyo drops from the tree, taking just a second to enjoy how solidly she lands, the effortless way she’s able to stand and withdraw her hammer. Jihyo does her best to stay humble, but even she can’t resist the occasional urge to luxuriate in her own power. She feels prepared, and determined, and she wonders how she ever went so long without this sensation.  
  
“Hey, stranger. Fancy seeing you here.”  
  
Jihyo stiffens, wishes that she could just say she imagined what she just heard, but when she turns, Jeongyeon is standing in front of her. The other woman wears no cloak today, just a shirt and trousers, both a flat black. There is, Jihyo assumes, some sort of padding layered throughout the clothing, but it remains as nondescript as the cloak had been. There’s no crest, no unique coloring, just Jeongyeon, standing there with a grin on her face.  
  
“I’ll be honest and say that I didn’t expect to see you again.” Jeongyeon keeps her distance, and Jihyo sees past her smile to the tension in her stance. It’s nice to be reminded that not everything is a joke to this woman.  
  
“I’m a hunter. You’re a hunter,” Jihyo says, eyebrow raised. “Why wouldn’t we see each other again?”  
  
Jeongyeon tilts her head in acknowledgment. “Fair. I figured you’d want to avoid all flight-related bounties, is all.”  
  
“My potions master needed griffin feathers for some sort of experiment she’s running. Who would I be to deny her help?” Jihyo doesn’t lie, but she also doesn’t further clarify that she had only asked Sana if she could use the feathers after deciding to go after the griffin.  
  
Jeongyeon hums. “My potions master would like to make something with griffin feathers, I think, but all the feathers always end up being hoarded by one of our guild members for her personal projects.”  
  
Jihyo clenches her jaw, rolling her lips before she can even think about it. “Personal projects?”  
  
“I know what you’re thinking, but those silver inlays were a result of her personal projects, so we kind of give her free reign.” Jeongyeon drifts closer. Jihyo’s grip on her hammer stays loose.  
  
“And how exactly did griffin feathers help with that?” Jihyo may have been surprised by the runes (as had been Sana and Momo when she explained what they did), but she knows that you don’t need feathers for that process.  
  
“They don’t,” chuckles Jeongyeon. “They end up part of very weird and elaborate fashion choices, but it’s good for morale.”  
  
Jihyo blinks, tries to process what’s just been revealed to her. What guild, what _guildmaster,_ would allow resources to be used for such inane purposes? Jihyo opens her mouth to ask as much, but the screech of the griffin interrupts them. All thoughts of discussion flee Jihyo’s mind.  
  
When she turns from checking the positioning of the griffin, it’s to see Jeongyeon looking at her with a firm expression. It’s the first time she’s really seen the other woman without some line of humor on her face, and it’s refreshing.  
  
“You’re a close-range fighter, right,” Jeongyeon asks, nodding at the warhammer Jihyo holds. “Would you like to tag-team this one? I can take it down from a range.”  
  
Jihyo tilts her head. “I have exploding crossbow bolts and paralyzing bombs. What can you offer besides someone to split the spoils with?”  
  
Jihyo hears a click, and then she watches as a thin silver circle spins up into the air between them, falling and catching on Jeongyeon’s outstretched finger. It continues to spin, but Jihyo locks her gaze onto Jeongyeon’s eyes, which have suddenly taken on a playful light.  
  
“How about this,” Jeongyeon says, lowering the still spinning chakram. “We work together, and the one who gets the killing blow gets to ask the other anything they want. The answer has to be honest.”  
  
Jihyo is intrigued. It’s hard not to be when someone you know nothing about stands in front of you and basically offers up information about themselves on a silver platter. She knows the odds are in her favor. Chakrams are nice for range, and they’re nice for close combat slicing and dicing. Griffins, however, require a powerful finishing blow.  
  
Still, Jeongyeon is smiling too confidently for Jihyo’s liking.  
  
She steps forward, bringing them toe to toe, and reaches out her hand. The chakram stops abruptly, caught between Jihyo’s thumb and forefinger. Jeongyeon’s eyes widen in surprise, and Jihyo presses her advantage. She leans in, not missing how Jeongyeon matches her movements. “As long as you stay out of my way, you can try whatever you like.”  
  
She slides her pointer finger along the inner rim of the chakram, letting the buzzing under her skin paint a smirk across her lips. She lets her stare linger only long enough for Jeongyeon’s lips to part, and then she turns and walks away.  
  
By the time she’s 10 yards away from Jeongyeon, all thoughts not related to the hunt have fled her mind. She approaches the griffin’s location with purpose, not caring whether or not someone is following close behind. Countless approaches and outcomes spiral out before her, and Jihyo relishes the feeling. Dahyun was right. She did need this.  
  
The griffin screeches again, swoops lower, and Jihyo knows that she’s been spotted. She reaches for her pre-loaded crossbow, fiddles with the trigger, and prepares to approach.  
  
The griffin dives, and the world is suddenly awash in the feel and sound of battle. Jihyo spares one last thought to Jeongyeon, and then loses herself in the rush.  
  
As it turns out, Jeongyeon’s skills in hunting monsters extend to actual combat abilities as well. Jihyo’s bolt flies true, tearing a gash in the creature’s wings, but it’s the slices from Jeongyeon’s chakram, whistling through the air, that bring the griffin to the ground.  
  
After that, the battle is simple. Jihyo tosses in her paralyzing bombs, dances around weakening strikes, and delivers the final blow with relish. Her hammer all but sings as she swings it through the air.  
  
All-in-all, Jihyo reckons that the fight takes five minutes.  
  
Jihyo wipes the sweat from her brow and pushes her hair back, adrenaline thumping through her. She knows she has hours of material harvesting in front of her, but she can’t find it in herself to complain. She hears footsteps approaching and turns to meet them with a grin.  
  
“Looks like I won,” she declares, still breathless.  
  
The rueful smile that adorns Jeongyeon’s face stretches even wider. “You did. I thought I could get over here with my blade before you, but you kinda kicked my ass. You’re pretty good with that hammer.”  
  
Jihyo feels bright, like the sun has sunken into her skin and begun warming her from the inside out. It’s a filling feeling, one that pushes at her, loosens her limbs, and it’s what she blames for what she does next.  
  
She swings her hammer back up into its place on her back and takes a step towards Jeongyeon. “That’s nothing. We’d have to hunt something more challenging than a griffin for you to actually see what I’m capable of.”  
  
Jeongyeon looks at her in mild shock. “Are you inviting me to do another hunt with you?”  
  
Jihyo smirks. “I’m not inviting you. I’m just telling you what we could do if you want.”  
  
Jeongyeon’s expression smooths out. Her eyes are firm as they quickly scan over Jihyo, but they soften once Jihyo’s eyes meet hers. A moment passes, and then another. Jihyo wants to say something to break the silence, but she can tell that Jeongyeon wants to speak. Her hands are twitchy, jaw clenching and releasing.  
  
So Jihyo waits.  
  
And waits. Until she suddenly becomes aware of the fact that Jeongyeon is staring at her and that she’s absolutely covered in blood.  
  
“What,” Jihyo asks.  
  
Jeongyeon’s eyes flutter as if she’s waking up from a dream. “Nothing, nothing. Just thinking about the best way to collect supplies from this griffin. I think a joint hunt would be great.” Jeongyeon grins, and Jihyo relaxes into it.  
  
“Good. We can figure it out once we’re done harvesting,” Jihyo says. She sends an appraising look Jeongyeon’s way, notes the lack of blood on her. “You do know how to do this, right?”  
  
Jeongyeon rolls her eyes, withdrawing a dagger from her belt. “You have to know by now that I’m not useless.”  
  
Jihyo gestures towards the griffin. “Harvest some feathers and then we’ll talk.”  
  
Jeongyeon huffs but moves to do just that.  
  
Time passes quickly once they get started, and Jihyo is pleased to find that Jeongyeon easily fades into the background. Every so often, Jeongyeon will make a quip about a feather damaged in the fight or about the heat of the day, but, by and large, they work in silence.  
  
It’s strange, in a sense, for Jihyo to be working with someone that isn’t Dahyun, Sana, or Momo. She often goes on training trips with guild members, but that results in Jihyo filling the silences with information and strategies. Here, she’s working with someone who does in fact appear to know exactly what they’re doing.  
  
When they finish, Jihyo finds herself unable to be anything other than satisfied. She has more than enough supplies for Sana and Momo, and a new trophy for the display room. In fact, there’s only one more thing Jihyo needs to finish off the hunt.  
  
She takes a moment to observe Jeongyeon, watches the pull of the other woman’s shirt as she stands up and stretches. At the very end of her stretch, Jeongyeon’s shirt lifts up just enough to expose a flash of skin. Jihyo’s eyes dart away.  
  
She clears her throat. She is, of course, aware that she finds Jeongyeon attractive. Jeongyeon’s attractiveness is a truth Jihyo thinks anyone would be hard pressed to disagree with. It’s also a truth that she has found easy to ignore during most of their time together. Monster hunting doesn’t exactly leave a lot of space for considering the looks of someone you’re working with.  
  
But they’re not exactly working right now, and something about the way Jeongyeon’s fingers dance around her blade briefly makes Jihyo wish they had met under different circumstances.  
  
She snaps out of it when she realizes that she’s been staring at Jeongyeon’s hands for the last thirty seconds. Right. Yes. She has something she still needs to do.  
  
“I’d like to collect my prize now.”  
  
Jeongyeon raises an eyebrow. “I forgot about that. Ask away.”  
  
There are countless things Jihyo knows she should ask, questions about Jeongyeon’s guild or her personal history are at the top of the list. The questions she’s had simmering for the last several weeks bubble to the front of her brain, but, in the end, Jihyo can only ask one thing.  
  
“What were you thinking about earlier? Before we started working on the griffin.”  
  
Jeongyeon stiffens, and Jihyo immediately knows that her question was worth asking. “Remember, you have to be honest.”  
  
“I know,” Jeongyeon bites out. “It’s just. Embarrassing.”  
  
Jeongyeon closes her eyes, and Jihyo can’t help but focus on the column of her throat as she swallows.  
  
When Jeongyeon opens her eyes again, they’re blank. Any hint of the off-kilter woman she was a moment ago has been erased. Except, Jihyo notes with no small amount of amusement, for a light flush on her cheeks that Jihyo knows isn’t from the sun and fingers that won’t stop drumming against her thigh.  
  
“I was thinking about how I would like to,” Jeongyeon begins, voice formal despite the rising blush on her cheeks, “compliment you for being pretty.”  
  
Everything in Jihyo recoils in disbelief. Her mouth works before her brain can even begin to process what Jeongyeon just said. “What’s wrong with you? Don’t lie!”  
  
Jihyo doesn’t get ‘pretty’. She’s gotten ‘powerful’ and ‘intimidating’ and even ‘striking’. But she doesn’t get ‘pretty’. Pretty doesn’t have a place in the world of monster hunters, and it certainly doesn’t have a place on the lips of someone looking at Jihyo after she’s finished a hunt. Jihyo knows that her hair is a mess, clothes rumpled. There’s absolutely blood on her cheek. Nothing about that says ‘pretty’.  
  
She takes a step back, shaking her head and laughing. “What’s wrong with you?”  
  
Jeongyeon furrows her brows, facade dropped. “Nothing is wrong with me! I answered your question.” Her arms cross in front of her. “Is that not what you wanted?”  
  
“You said we had to be honest.”  
  
“I was honest,” Jeongyeon insists. “Don’t accuse me of lying!”  
  
“There is absolutely no way,” Jihyo says, laughing, “that you find me pretty like this.”  
  
“Well, I do,” Jeongyeon says, and Jihyo can almost feel the other woman’s desire to stomp her foot. Jeongyeon’s face is flushed now, and the awkward air around her is a far cry from the aloofness Jihyo has become familiar with.  
  
Jihyo opens her mouth to say something about Jeongyeon’s taste in women, but Jeongyeon speaks faster, words almost tripping over each other.  
  
“Look. Can we just drop it? Three weeks from now, just pick the toughest challenge. I’ll do the same and meet you there. There’s usually a standout.” Jeongyeon speaks quickly, eyes lowered, and Jihyo begins to feel just the slightest bit bad about her response. “I’ll see you then.”  
  
She can almost hear Sana and Momo in the back of her mind, scolding her for basically yelling at a woman for calling her pretty. Jihyo wants to reach out, slip in an apology, but she finds herself unable to put the words together correctly.  
  
Does she thank Jeongyeon for what she said? Say it back? Is ‘I’m sorry I reacted like that I’m just really not used to anyone saying that I’m pretty.’ just going to somehow make things even more awkward?  
  
The moment marches past her, and Jihyo once again finds herself staring at Jeongyeon’s retreating form. She doesn’t even manage to shout out a goodbye.  
  
//  
  
This time, Jihyo doesn’t go to Sana or Momo. She hands off the materials to one of their apprentices and lets them take care of it. She stops by her office just long enough to see that Dahyun has finished the work as promised, and then she promptly heads to her room to shower and sleep.  
  
_What’s wrong with you? Don’t lie!_  
  
Jihyo wonders, before she drifts off to sleep, if there’s a chance she could pay one of the local witches in town to erase that memory from Jeongyeon’s mind.  
  
Next time, she thought, next time she’d be prepared.  
  
Outside her window, a wolf howls, and Jihyo lets herself pretend that its cheering for her.  
  
//  
  
A week passes, one in which Jihyo comes to terms with how things had ended with Jeongyeon, and one in which she becomes very adept at brushing off Sana and Momo’s sly glances. Getting drunk with them the first time had been her biggest mistake. The mention of Jeongyeon, accompanied with Jihyo’s smile, had been more than enough to ensure that Sana and Momo would constantly be on her case about the other woman.  
  
She tries upping their workload to distract them, but that just results in her hearing about lack of storage space in the armory. They’re determined and talented and Jihyo finds herself hating how efficient they are at their jobs.  
  
As such, it’s with a weary tone that Jihyo tells the person knocking on her door to enter. She’s not expecting Dahyun for a few more hours, and there’s only so many people that feel comfortable knocking on her door unannounced.  
  
The door slowly opens, and a familiar face peaks through, arms laden with boxes. “Hello, Guildmaster Park.”  
  
“Tzuyu,” Jihyo exclaims warmly, standing up to assist the other woman. “What’re you doing here today? Also, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Jihyo?”  
  
Tzuyu shrugs as well as she can with the boxes in her arms, smile on her face. “Mom told me to come earlier this week. One of the guilds is hosting a party later this week, so we need all staff on hand for that.”  
  
Jihyo shifts one of the boxes into her arms, pleased to note that it’s the paper she had ordered last week after running low. “Which guild,” she asks, absentmindedly.  
  
She sets the box next to her desk, looking up curiously at Tzuyu’s lack of answer. The other woman shifts under her gaze, eyes darting to focus on the bookshelves in the corner of Jihyo’s office.

Jihyo knows exactly which guild will be taking up so much of the Chou’s time this week.  
  
“Tzuyu,” Jihyo says, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. “You can say it’s the Im Hunter’s Guild. Our rivalry isn’t that bad.”  
  
Tzuyu raises an eyebrow, making her opinion of that statement clear. A moment, just long enough for Jihyo to feel the full brunt of Tzuyu’s judgement, passes, and then Tzuyu is reaching for her pocket.  
  
“I was given this on my way in, by the way. It’s a report or something.” Tzuyu passes over a sheaf of paper that Jihyo accepts with eager hands.  
  
Every three months, reports on each of the hunter’s guilds were distributed to each of the guild heads. Publicly, it was said to simply be a method of spreading information for the knowledge of all, but privately, each guildmaster knew that these monthly reports were the best benchmarks they had to determine the health of their guild. The reports spread competition, prompted guildmasters to recruit harder, accept more bounties.  
  
Jihyo is well aware of this fact, yet, every three months she turns to the final page and checks to see which name sits atop the _Completed Bounties_ table. This time, it isn’t her guild that dominates the list. It’s Nayeon’s, and while that rankles her, what truly shocks her is the difference between their numbers.  
  
“Oh my god,” Jihyo mutters, bringing the page closer to her face as if that would change the numbers before her. “Tzuyu, are you sure that Dahyun didn’t give this to you as a prank?”  
  
Tzuyu snorts. “Yes. I saw Dahyun leading an archery lesson on my way in. Sakura gave this to me. Is something wrong?”  
  
Jihyo laughs in disbelief, falling back into her chair. “Im came in first this time around, but they did it with 25% more profit than us despite being one bounty _lower_.”  
  
Tzuyu wrinkles her nose, and Jihyo shoots her an apologetic look. She knows Tzuyu doesn’t enjoy discussions of monster hunting. No amount of exposure over the years has made her numb to the topic, something Jihyo finds both admirable and confusing.  
  
“What does that mean,” Tzuyu asks, after a moment, shifting her remaining crate so that she can peer down at the papers in front of Jihyo. “More bounties usually means high profit, right?”  
  
Jihyo shakes her head. “Not always. Higher bounties means higher pay, and one high paying bounty can easily cover three or four lower level ones,” Jihyo explains, fiddling with the collar of her shirt. “They’re not easy to get, though. We only have half a dozen or so guild members capable of taking them on. I stopped running them a few years after I took over the guild.”  
  
Tzuyu nods, glimmer of understanding in her eyes. “So Guildmaster Im has more high level people now? Maybe that’s what the party is for.”  
  
Jihyo rifles through the papers, stopping when she finds the guild roster numbers. Im’s numbers are the same, which is a surprise in and of itself. Most guilds, good guilds at least, added a few new trainees every few months. But the Im Hunter’s Guild is stagnant.  
  
“No,” Jihyo sighs. “It’s not that.”  
  
Jihyo knows the rough strength of the existing member’s of Nayeon’s guild, the strategies they prefer, and even the balance of ranged to close combat fighters. She has all of this information, and yet, she has no explanation as to why the numbers are skewed the way they are.  
  
A clanging noise comes from Tzuyu’s arms as she shifts again, and Jihyo looks up in alarm, realizing that she’s essentially kept Tzuyu from doing her job. “Tzuyu, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to keep you here with guild business. It was good to see you.”  
  
“It’s alright, Guildmaster Jihyo,” Tzuyu says, smile tinged with relief. “After this, I have to haggle with a grumpy farmer over some unripe tomatoes, so you’re really not keeping me from anything exciting.”  
  
Jihyo laughs, charmed by almost fond exasperation in Tzuyu’s voice. “Regardless, I’ve kept you long enough. Say hi to your parents for me!”  
  
Tzuyu leaves, and Jihyo has nothing else to distract her from the reality in front of her. She’s not looking forward to seeing Nayeon next week at the quarterly hunter’s guild meeting. She can already imagine the smug look in Nayeon’s eyes.  
  
Jihyo takes one last look at the paper in her hand and fights the urge to crumple it. Her guild is fine, flourishing even. The gap between her and the third place guild is more than sufficient, yet all she finds herself focusing on is Nayeon’s row.  
  
She prays, to any deity or spirit that might be listening, that Nayeon doesn’t come and find her after the summit next week.  
  
//  
  
“Fancy seeing you here, Park Jihyo.” The words curl through the air, and Jihyo’s eardrums process them much the way they would the screech of a harpy.  
  
Unfortunately, the tavern is not full enough for Jihyo to pretend that she didn’t hear Nayeon’s words. A bard sits in the corner, still tuning his lute, and Jihyo decides that her lack of an excuse to ignore Nayeon is firmly his fault.  
  
Jihyo takes a deep breath, trying her best to center herself as she turns to face Nayeon. “You knew I’d be here, Nayeon. The meeting just finished.”  
  
“Yeah, I know,” Nayeon says, sliding onto the stool next to Jihyo with a smirk. “The way your shoulders tensed when I spoke made me laugh, though.”  
  
Jihyo takes a moment to regard Nayeon before responding, taking in familiar eyes and an even more familiar coy smile. Nayeon’s hair is slightly longer than it was last time, Jihyo notices. There had been an argument between them, several years ago, about the foolishness of having long hair while being an active hunter. Nayeon had disagreed with Jihyo at every turn, but Jihyo had the satisfaction of seeing Nayeon turn up at the next quarterly meeting with shoulder length hair.  
  
“As always,” Jihyo says, signaling for the bartender to refill her drink, “my suffering fails to bring you anything other than joy. Did you want something?”  
  
Nayeon opens her mouth to speak, changing course when the bartender comes over to fill Jihyo’s drink. She flashes a smile at the woman and orders.  
  
Jihyo grimaces at Nayeon’s taste in alcohol. She may not have the top guild this quarter, but at least she appreciated the difference between top-shelf and bottom-of-the-barrel alcohol.  
  
Nayeon’s drink arrives quickly, and Jihyo expects her to continue wherever it was that she left off. But Nayeon just stares at her, finger tracing the rim of her drink. Jihyo almost, almost asks Nayeon what it was she was going to say earlier, but she resists. She doesn’t want to give Im Nayeon the satisfaction of her curiosity. So instead of talking, Jihyo focuses on the aforementioned Useless Corner Bard, who still seems to be struggling with the strings of his instrument.  
  
“Did you have fun reading the guild report last week,” Nayeon asks. The question, surprisingly, is not asked in the smug tone Jihyo had been dreading during the summit. It’s straightforward and searching.  
  
Failure Bard winces as one of his strings snaps.  
  
“Not as much fun as you I’m sure,” Jihyo answers dryly. “I was pleased with how far ahead we were of third place, though from what I’ve heard of their training program, I wasn’t surprised.”  
  
Nayeon laughs, low. The glass lets out a whine as Nayeon continues to trace its rim. Jihyo can sympathize. She’d also be screaming if Nayeon was touching her. “C’mon, Jihyo. I know you’re dying to ask.”  
  
Bard Who Should Go Back to School stands and begins trying to play his instrument one string short. Jihyo briefly considers the ramifications of throwing her tankard at his head. On one hand, she’s sworn to protect innocent citizens, not harm them—  
  
“I’ll tell you what my secret is, but you have to ask nicely. You gotta work to get results, Park.” Nayeon’s voice is cloying now, enjoyment evident.  
  
—On the other, she’s pretty sure even Nayeon couldn’t break her way into the empire’s prison cells.  
  
Nayeon hums, equally as out of tune as the instrument being played across the room.  
  
Jihyo grits her teeth and wills herself to stay silent, but the curiosity that’s been eating at her for the last week eventually wins out. “How,” Jihyo says, jaw tight, “the hell did you manage that margin with that number of bounties?”  
  
Jihyo can see Nayeon’s grin out of the corner of her eye. “An old friend of mine came out of retirement.”  
  
“Retirement?”  
  
“Mhmm.”  
  
Jihyo shakes her head. “But your roster—”  
  
“An old-timer retired. They filled his place.” Nayeon’s grin settles into something more playful. “That’s where the change is coming from.”  
  
Jihyo looks directly at Nayeon now, face blank. “You honestly expect me to believe that this bump is from one person? How green do you think I am, Nayeon?”  
  
Nayeon leans in, gesturing for Jihyo to come closer. She reluctantly complies, not holding back her scowl as Nayeon comes even closer.  
  
“My old friend," Nayeon emphasizes, "is often known as my shadow.”  
  
Nayeon pulls back swiftly, downs her drink in one shot, and stands up, walking out the door with a “Thanks for the free drink, Park!” thrown over her shoulder.  
  
And Jihyo is frozen. Utterly, unexpectedly, undeniably, and upsettingly frozen.  
  
Because.  
  
Well.  
  
If what Nayeon said is true—  
  
Jihyo grips her glass tighter. Absolutely not.  
  
Somewhere, in the back of her mind, Jihyo dimly registers the sounds of someone getting into an argument with the bard.  
  
Jihyo knows the stories, has lived on the edges of enough of them to confirm their validity. But it’s been so very long since anyone had spoken of Im Nayeon and her shadow, so long that it had melted into something of a folk tale, a story exchanged between hunters over the hazy smoke of their fires.  
  
Jihyo’s story is simple, all things considered. She had trained from a young age, been raised in a family full of decorated hunters. When she was 21, her father had decided to retire, opening up the guild leadership position. And Jihyo had fought, and campaigned, and had won the right to call the guild hers. Simple.  
  
Im Nayeon’s story is anything but.  
  
It’s murky and convoluted, and Jihyo has truthfully never been able to parse the entire thing. She knows Nayeon prefers it that way.  
  
What she does know, though, is that, a year or two before Jihyo herself came into power, Nayeon had burst onto the scene, declaring the start of her own guild despite being a virtual unknown. What had followed was a rise that could only be described as meteoric. Nayeon’s political acumen and ability with a sword were certainly part of it, but it was a well-shared secret among guildmasters that Nayeon’s greatest strength was her mysterious right-hand.  
  
There wasn’t much known about the woman, quickly labeled as Nayeon’s “shadow” (a title that was meant to be derogatory but that soon took on a life of its own). What was known was that Nayeon had someone in her guild who was capable of tearing through bounties at a shocking pace. It was tales of battles with higher vampires, bruxa, and draconids that had gained the Im Hunter’s Guild the respect it truly needed to flourish.  
  
Then one year, almost half a decade after Nayeon had started her guild, stories of this hunter’s fights stopped cold. Nayeon never addressed them, but Jihyo remembers the change that had come over the other woman’s face not too long after her shadow disappeared. Since then, it’s been nothing but rumors.  
  
(It was around this time, too, that Jihyo and Nayeon first began butting heads. Neither of them were at the top yet, but it was clear that they were both headed there.)  
  
And now Nayeon was claiming that she was back. It would explain the numbers over the last quarter, which leads Jihyo to believe that this hunter hadn’t retired because she suddenly got bad at her job.  
  
“Fuck.”  
  
Jihyo leans back, not even blinking when a now-destroyed lute flies past her face.  
  
//  
  
“Jihyo?”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Ah, nothing. You just seem really excited for this hunt.”  
  
“I’ve never seen a bounty written on such expensive paper before. It got me curious.”  
  
“Are you sure it’s not because you’re meeting up with Jeongyeon again?”  
  
“Bye, Sana.”  
  
“Is that a yes? I’m taking that as a yes. Walking away from me faster just makes me think that I’m right!”  
  
//  
  
Jihyo lets her mind wander, half of her listening to what’s going on around her and the other running over the bounty that had brought her here. It had grabbed her attention immediately, written on paper with a golden-leaf border. The plea had been intriguing as well, seeming to promise something that would be quite memorable. The mention of a flying creature hadn’t hurt either. Jihyo was itching for a good fight.  
  
She had asked around earlier today, and, upon discovering that no one else had staked a claim on the hunt, decided to wait by the village’s entrance. She was confident that Jeongyeon would be showing up eventually.  
  
Jihyo fights back the flush of embarrassment that threatens to overtake her at the thought of the other woman. Over the past several weeks, she had managed to mostly move past the regret she felt at fumbling Jeongyeon’s compliment. Now though, with the knowledge that Jeongyeon could be standing in front of her at any minute, Jihyo finds herself growing nervous.  
  
She takes a deep breath, tries to distract herself with the sounds of wagons rumbling over the village roads. She hears the bleating of goats and shouts of children. The noises are enough, for the moment, and the unease in her stomach begins to abate. She relaxes back against the tree she had chosen as her waiting spot.  
  
“I have a matter of the utmost importance,” a voice begins. Jihyo doesn’t fight the smile that automatically springs to her lips. “I am in need of the services of hunters of the highest caliber. Those that cower in the face of danger need not apply. The matter is too delicate to publicly share, but I beg of you to heed my call—”  
  
“Enough,” Jihyo interrupts, laughing. “That accent is ridiculous.”  
  
She opens her eyes and is met with the sight of a playful Jeongyeon, hand extended down towards her. Jihyo takes it, and in the second it takes for Jeongyeon to pull her up, Jihyo comes to the conclusion that she likes the way Jeongyeon’s hand feels in hers.  
  
“Is it though,” Jeongyeon asks. “You saw the paper it was on, yes? I figured you’d think it was the most interesting one.” She starts walking, inclining her head towards the center of town, and Jihyo falls into step with her. “I think I know where he lives.”  
  
“I thought you’d choose it based on the mention of ‘creatures of flight’,” Jihyo admits. “The ridiculous language was really just an addition.”  
  
Jeongyeon hums in agreement.  
  
They continue to walk, and Jihyo tries to think of ways to break the silence. The nerves build with every step her and Jeongyeon take together. She hadn’t said anything at the beginning, and Jihyo couldn’t detect any discomfort at the moment. But still. Jihyo knows that she has something to make up for.  
  
She supposes a starting point that she’s comfortable with is as good as any. “How’d the guild rankings go for you this quarter?”  
  
Jeongyeon scoffs, shaking her head lightly. “Well. I don’t really follow guild politics or rankings, though. It’s all so”—Jeongyeon waves her hand dismissively—”much.”  
  
It’s strange, Jihyo thinks, that she should find someone’s dismissal of her job so charming. Though, Jihyo admits, Jeongyeon isn’t just anyone to her. There’s no word in Jihyo’s mind that quite fits the way she thinks about Jeongyeon, but Jihyo knows that she’s certainly something.  
  
“How about you,” Jeongyeon asks.  
  
“Pretty well,” Jihyo says. “Not as well as I would’ve liked, but pretty well.”  
  
Jeongyeon turns her head to look at her. “Well, then we better hope this bounty is as profitable as it sounds. Gotta work to get you those results, Park.”  
  
Jihyo blinks, hit with a wave of deja vu that has her grasping at nothing. Why are Jeongyeon’s words echoing around her head in a way that feels familiar? Something about the way her lips had shaped the last few words. The tilt of her head, the curve of her lips. She’s seen it before. But where?  
  
“Ready?”  
  
Jihyo’s head snaps up, and she realizes with a start that they’re standing in front of an extremely extravagant house. The winding path in front of them only serves to further underscore the opulence of it all. Jeongyeon’s expectant gaze meets her own, and Jihyo wonders just how long Jeongyeon has been waiting for her to speak.  
  
“Yes, sorry. I got lost in thought for a moment.”  
  
“Happens to the best of us. After you, m’lady.” Jeongyeon adopts that ridiculous accent again as she speaks, arm sweeping wide, and Jihyo rolls her lips in an effort not to laugh.  
  
She thinks that she does a pretty good job of hiding her amusement on her way up to the front door. Jeongyeon, however, smiles knowingly at her right before she knocks.  
  
The door swings open almost immediately, but Jihyo takes one last second to memorize the smile on Jeongyeon’s face.  
  
It’s nice, Jihyo decides. Having Jeongyeon here with her. She likes this.  
  
//  
  
Jihyo hates this.  
  
“I cannot believe,” she growls, “that you told that man that we’d accept his ridiculous mission.”  
  
Jeongyeon sighs. “We were already there, Jihyo. Besides, it was kind of funny. He clearly needed help.”  
  
Jihyo whirls around, jabbing a finger in Jeongyeon’s direction. “We’re currently on a mission to find a pigeon, Jeongyeon! A pigeon. Do you know what I’ve accomplished? The types of monsters I’ve taken down? Do you know who I am?”  
  
For a number of seconds, the only noise around them is that of Jihyo’s voice echoing amongst the trees. As Jeongyeon continues to look at her, lips parted and eyebrows raised, Jihyo realizes what she just said.   
  
Jeongyeon lifts a hand, pointer finger raised. With it, she pushes down the finger Jihyo had thrust in her direction. For each inch that Jeongyeon gently pushes her finger down, Jihyo wishes she was five more feet under the ground.  
  
“Well, no. To all of those. I mean, I know that you’re Park Jihyo, but that’s it, really.”  
  
“God, I am so sorry,” Jihyo breathes, stepping closer. “That was entirely unprofessional.”  
  
“If you really want to leave, Jihyo, I won’t stop you,” Jeongyeon says, shrugging. “I’m not exactly enthused about finding the pigeon either. What’s it’s name? Parsnip?”  
  
“Persimmon,” Jihyo grumbles. “An obvious choice of name for a pigeon. And no, I’m not going to leave. I was just looking forward to something a bit more engaging.”  
  
Jeongyeon holds up the whistle that had been given to them. “Is this not fun for you? Do you not enjoy having to walk through the woods with a whistle in an effort to find Persnickety?”  
  
Jihyo smiles despite the annoyance she feels. “Shockingly, no.” She watches as Jeongyeon puts the whistle to her lips and blows. Her eyes dart to the trees, attempting in vain to see anything that looks like a pigeon wearing a blue ribbon around its neck.  
  
“Here,” Jeongyeon says, pushing something into her hands. “We’re better off just watching from one place. Birds move faster than us.”  
  
Jihyo looks down, eyebrows raising in appreciation when she sees what appears to be a dose of eagle eye potion. “Smart, but I have my own with me. You can keep this.”  
  
She attempts to hand it back, but Jeongyeon refuses. “Our potions master always aggressively overstocks me when I go out. You’d be doing me a favor by taking it, trust me.”  
  
“Your guild has a very weird view on resources.” Jihyo lifts the potion to hers lips, taking a moment to dryly note that, if she is so inclined, this would be an excellent way for Jeongyeon to kill her. She closes her eyes and swallows the potion, pleasantly surprised by the mint taste. Sana tended to do that with all of her potions, as well. It took a bit more time, but it was worth it to not have to deal with the natural bitter taste of the concoction.  
  
She blinks several times when she opens her eyes, needing a second to adjust to her new and improved vision.  
  
“I think my guildmaster just understands that she tends to pick stubborn people who are going to do what they want,” Jeongyeon says, sinking down onto the grass. “We get by, so it’s hard to argue with the results.”  
  
“I suppose, but there’s always room for improvement,” Jihyo says, joining Jeongyeon on the forest floor. Her eyes mindlessly scan the surrounding forest as she turns Jeongyeon’s words over in her head. The way Jeongyeon spoke of her guild’s success leads Jihyo to believe that they were in fact decently successful. “Are you sure you won’t tell me what guild you belong to?”  
  
“Yup.”  
  
Jihyo looks at Jeongyeon and then quickly looks away. “Why not?” The amplification effects of the potion have rendered Jeongyeon even more of a distraction.  
  
“Who doesn’t love a little mystery,” Jeongyeon asks. Jihyo can hear the smirk in her voice. “I don’t know what guild you’re from, either.”  
  
“Setting Sun Hunter’s Guild.” At this point, Jihyo is pretty sure Jeongyeon has no idea who she is, so the words leave her lips with ease. She wonders, though, if Jeongyeon would act differently around her if she knew exactly who Jihyo was.  
  
Probably not.  
  
Jeongyeon laughs. “Seriously? That’s amazing.” Out of the corner of her eye, Jihyo sees Jeongyeon throw her head back in laughter. She tries to resist looking directly at the other woman for a moment, but she quickly gives in.  
  
The amusement on Jeongyeon’s face sends ripples of warmth throughout Jihyo. She can see, in stark relief, the way Jeongyeon laughs with her entire body, how unrestrained she is in this moment. Jihyo has absolutely no idea why the name of her guild has invoked such a reaction, but she’s content to watch it play out.  
  
She doesn’t realize she’s been grinning until Jeongyeon locks eyes with her. “Why is that so funny?”  
  
Jeongyeon shakes her head, occasional giggle slipping out. “I just get why you felt comfortable throwing a ‘Do you know who I am?’ at me. I don’t follow things, but I know you were number two last quarter.”  
  
Jihyo fights the terrible urge to cover her face with her hands. She had blissfully forgotten about her outburst until this moment. “Please don’t remind me,” Jihyo groans. “I’m usually more composed than that.”  
  
“It’s okay. I preferred it to you calling me a liar.”  
  
Jihyo stiffens. Fuck. “I’m sorry about that as well. I really wasn’t expecting you to call me pretty.”  
  
“It’s okay,” Jeongyeon says. She sounds sincere, and Jihyo relaxes just a bit. “I strongly considered just lying, but we had agreed on honesty. So.”  
  
“Well,” Jihyo clears her throat, “thank you.”  
  
Jeongyeon laughs softly. “You’re welcome, Jihyo.”

"You're pretty too," she says, after a moment, wincing as the words leave her lips.

Jeongyeon's response is soft, but Jihyo can hear how genuine it is. "Thank you."  
  
Silence settles between them, broken only when Jeongyeon once again blows the whistle.  
  
Jihyo tries to lose herself in the mindlessness of simple scouting, but she can’t stop herself from paying attention to every movement Jeongyeon makes. It’s like her body has attuned itself to the other woman, unable to not acknowledge a single thing she does.  
  
Jeongyeon sighs next to her and suddenly Jihyo finds her mind focusing on what she does know about Jeongyeon. At this point, Jihyo feels like she has a pretty good grasp of what type of person Jeongyeon is. Any doubts she may have had were defeated in the wake of watching Jeongyeon comfort a very flustered merchant in the throes of sobbing about his precious pigeon.  
  
What she doesn’t actually know, though, are hard facts about the woman next to her. “Can I ask you more questions?”  
  
Jihyo can feel Jeongyeon’s gaze on her. “Only if I can ask you questions.”  
  
“Of course.”  
  
“Then take it away.”  
  
Once again, Jihyo finds herself thinking about all the things she could ask Jeongyeon. She discards ones about Jeongyeon’s guild and monster hunting history. That’s not really what she’s after at the moment. “What,” Jihyo begins, “is your favorite color?”  
  
Jeongyeon snorts. “Starting simple. I like it. Black.”  
  
“Shocking,” Jihyo responds, turning to skim a knowing gaze over Jeongyeon’s outfit: light leather armor covered by a black cloak.  
  
Jeongyeon just shrugs, smiling cheekily. “What’s yours then?”  
  
“The color of a sunset.” Jihyo expects a laugh. It’s the response she usually gets, and she understands why. Sunset's don't have a concrete color, a way to accurately describe the sight that always leaves her feeling breathless and so, so alive.  
  
Instead, Jeongyeon fails to respond. Jihyo turns, breath catching at what she sees. Jeongyeon is looking at her, eyes gentle and small smile upon her lips. It’s impossible to deny, especially with the aid of a potion, that the way Jeongyeon is looking at her holds a not insignificant amount of affection.  
  
Dahyun loves to read. It’s one of the qualities that Jihyo finds the most reassuring about her apprentice. Once, Dahyun had been unable to stop talking about magnets, had went on about polarity and magnetic fields until Jihyo’s head had begun to spin. Much of it had gone over her head, but she finds herself thinking about it now as she drifts towards the warm brown of Jeongyeon’s eyes. There’s a pull there, one that Jihyo can’t see, but one that she can’t help but feel.  
  
Jeongyeon’s fingers find hers in the grass.  
  
And then a flash of blue appears in her peripheral, and they’re both on their feet before Jihyo can even begin to think about what just happened.  
  
They lock eyes, nod, and then they’re sprinting after a pigeon with a penchant for escapism.  
  
The chase itself only lasts for about a minute, with Jeongyeon blowing the whistle in an effort to slow the bird down. Miraculously, it works, and Jihyo soon finds herself with her hands full of pigeon.  
  
“You,” Jeongyeon says, bending down to be at eye-level with the bird, “are an asshole.”  
  
Persimmon coos. Jeongyeon’s eye twitches. Jihyo decides to tuck Persimmon into her bag before the situation escalates.  
  
“Aren’t you supposed to like flying creatures,” Jihyo asks.  
  
Jeongyeon’s eyes dart between Jihyo and the bird she’s in the process of securing. “Not Partridge,” she grumbles.  
  
Jihyo tries not to smile too blatantly. She’s never seen Jeongyeon pout before. One glance at her lips, though, and Jihyo feels butterflies erupt in her stomach. They had almost kissed back there; she was sure of it.  
  
Jeongyeon starts walking in the direction of their client’s home, and Jihyo follows her with her eyes for a few seconds before having her feet do the same. Does she want to kiss Jeongyeon? Yes. Does she have romantic feelings for Jeongyeon? Possibly.  
  
She needs to think about it once this hunt is over. Jihyo has responsibilities to consider, and while it’s fine for her to go on a hunt once a month, the thought of any sort of relationship has her hesitant.  
  
(“You can’t hide behind your workload forever,” Sana had said once. “Life will find a way in, Jihyo.”  
  
Jihyo had just rolled her eyes and waved Sana off. She knew what she was doing, thank you very much.)  
  
Satisfied with her decision, Jihyo fully catches up to Jeongyeon, smiling when the other woman asks her about what pets she’s had.  
  
The walk back to their client's home takes the better part of the hour, and it’s spent continuing the exchange of questions. Jihyo sticks to not asking Jeongyeon questions related to her guild, and she’s pleased by what she finds out. Jeongyeon is smart and funny, and she has a tendency to keep Jihyo talking, asking the other woman questions about herself before Jihyo can even think of what to ask next.  
  
It’s nice, and when they’re finally done turning Persimmon over to a very enthusiastic and thankful (the pay is more than enough to smooth away Jihyo’s remaining annoyance) merchant, Jihyo is slightly disappointed that yet another hunt is at it’s end. They walk to the edge of the village together, and Jihyo asks one final question.  
  
“Did you really accept this mission just because you thought it was funny?”  
  
Jeongyeon looks up from her chakram, which she had taken to examining as they had walked through town. “That was part of it,” she says, smirking. “I could tell you were annoyed, and I think annoying you is my new favorite pastime.”  
  
Jihyo rolls her eyes, tries to ignore the fact that she likes how that sounds.  
  
“In truth, though,” Jeongyeon continues, wry smile pulling at her lips, “I took the mission because someone needed help. I know it was stupid and something that a local villager could’ve done, but we were there. That’s what hunters are supposed to do, yeah? Help the people around us?” She shrugs. Jihyo watches her tongue dart out to wet her lips. “People need help. I can help. It’s simple. Nice.”  
  
And then Jihyo kisses her.  
  
Jeongyeon_ cares_, really, truly cares about her work, cares even about a merchant and his goddamn pigeon, and Jihyo’s always been a sucker for a bleeding heart.  
  
Jihyo feels Jeongyeon stiffen in surprise, but only for a moment, and then the other woman is kissing her back. Every thought Jihyo has had about her hesitance towards Jeongyeon flees when her hands reach up to cup Jihyo’s neck.  
  
Jihyo vaguely registers the sound of something metallic clattering to the stone road, but all she can focus on is the feeling of Jeongyeon’s lips against her own. Jihyo tries to move slowly, to keep the press of her lips steady and light. Jeongyeon comes off as someone with a tendency to run if spooked, and the last thing Jihyo wants right now is for Jeongyeon to move away from her.  
  
Jeongyeon’s fingers tangle in her hair, gently guiding Jihyo in a slightly deeper kiss. Jihyo follows with ease, hands finding purchase in the sides of Jeongyeon’s cloak. The press of Jeongyeon’s body against hers sends warmth cascading through her, and it’s that feeling that propels Jihyo forward, leads her to swipe a timid tongue across Jeongyeon’s lower lip.  
  
It immediately becomes apparent that Jihyo should more carefully consider the consequences of her actions, because the noise Jeongyeon makes, a half-groan half-gasp that just barely reaches Jihyo’s ears, reverberates throughout her body. The hand in her hair tightens, and Jihyo can’t suppress the shiver that crashes through her.  
  
Jihyo suddenly finds herself overwhelmed with the need for air, and she pulls back with no small amount of reluctance. She sees the flush on Jeongyeon’s cheeks, watches as her eyes open slowly and regard her with a dreamy look. Jeongyeon’s tongue darts out to wet her reddened lips, and Jihyo openly watches the motion.  
  
“So,” Jeongyeon says, taking a deep breath that Jihyo feels herself mirror. Jeongyeon’s voice is low, heavy, and Jihyo feels it’s weight in her stomach. “Does this mean you’re inviting me to do another hunt with you?”  
  
Jihyo laughs, taken aback. Jeongyeon’s playful gaze stays on her, that damned lopsided smile on her lips. “Kiss me again, and I’ll let you know.”  
  
//  
  
The weeks in between seeing Jeongyeon again invoke a sort of restlessness in Jihyo. She knows she’s not subtle about it, and more than a few of her guild members comment on the shift in her demeanor.  
  
Momo, Sana, and Dahyun, of course, do their best to drag the truth out of her, but she manages to keep the change in her and Jeongyeon’s relationship a secret at first. Her friends seem appeased enough by the story of them chasing a pigeon through the forest, but Jihyo still catches each of them observing her when they think she won’t notice.  
  
One night, two days before she’s scheduled to leave for her next hunt, they’re all gathered in Jihyo’s room to relax from a particularly grueling day. It’s then that they finally manage to wrangle the full story out of her, and the excitement that she’s met with makes Jihyo question why she ever hesitated.  
  
“What a perfect love story,” Sana sighs, sinking back into the couch.  
  
“It’s not a love story,” Jihyo sputters, almost choking on her drink. “We’re not in love. We’re just…spending time together.” Her and Jeongyeon had agreed to keep things light for now. They only saw each other once every several weeks, and, when not distracted by the other woman’s lips, Jihyo did still want to take a measured approach to whatever this was becoming.  
  
“I don’t know, Jihyo,” Dahyun chimes in. “I hear the kids these days call that dating.”  
  
Sana cackles, leaning over to give a far too smug Dahyun a high-five. Jihyo just glares, too comfortable in her seat by fireplace to make an effort to fight them.  
  
Momo speaks. "You're like two sword-crossed lovers. It's cute"  
  
"The phrase is 'star-crossed' lovers."  
  
"What? That's stupid. It was daytime when you two met."  
  
A beat passes.  
  
Momo grins, winks, and Jihyo can’t stop the laughter that spills from her lips.  
  
//  
  
Jihyo leans back against the rocky wall of the hillside, enjoying the way the wind plays with her hair. This job was likely going be to damp, dark, and dirty. She wants to enjoy the fresh air while she can.  
  
Banshees were harmless most of the time, preferring to strike terror into hearts from a distance, but this one had taken up residence in the catacombs right outside of town. One terrified child was all it took for the bounty to be posted, directions given to the banshee’s location.  
  
Her weapons are sharpened and coated with specter oil, and all that’s left to do is wait. Jihyo’s become quite talented at that over the years.  
  
A bird flies by, and Jihyo’s thoughts drift in a predictable direction. Her lips quirk up at the thought of Jeongyeon. It’ll be nice to actually watch the other woman fight. Banshees weren’t terribly strong, but they were complex. It would be a touch harder than a griffin or erstwhile pigeon.  
  
Jihyo hears footsteps coming towards her and smiles. It’s when she determines that a group of people are approaching her that she stiffens. Jihyo’s hand drops to her daggers, but she makes no sudden movements.  
  
It very well could be another group of hunters attempting to collect the bounty, or a group of mourners desperate to visit a loved one.  
  
The voices grow closer and then abruptly stop. A singular pair of footsteps begins to move in her direction.  
  
Jihyo’s dagger easily slides out of it’s hilt, only to slide back in as her hand relaxes upon the sight of Jeongyeon.  
  
Jeongyeon waves, smile on her face, and moves towards Jihyo. Jihyo holds up a hand, stopping Jeongyeon in her tracks. “Was someone else with you?”  
  
“Oh, yes,” Jeongyeon answers, face sheepish. “My potions master and one of our junior members wanted to tag along. Apparently there’s some material in this area that they’ve been looking to collect.”  
  
“Oh,” Jihyo says, anxiety ebbing away. “That makes sense.”  
  
“Yeah.” Jeongyeon rubs the back of her head. “They also kind of want to meet you.” The last word is said almost as if it’s a question, and the anxiety slips right back in.  
  
“What?”  
  
Jeongyeon walks closer, allowing Jihyo to see her bashful smile up close. “I may or may not have been interrogated after coming back from my last hunt with a lot of money and a gigantic smile on my face. They got curious.”  
  
“Oh.” Jihyo wonders if it’s normal, the way she’s feeling. She’s had lovers before, engaged in a few long and short term dalliances here and there, but she’s never found herself entranced by the way someone’s hair falls in front of their eyes. She’s never been nervous about meeting someone’s friends before either.  
  
But this is Jeongyeon.  
  
“They won’t be staying for the hunt,” Jeongyeon clarifies. “You really just need to say ‘hi’, and they’ll be on their way.”  
  
“Okay,” Jihyo agrees. “Summon them from the bushes or from wherever they’re hiding.”  
  
Jeongyeon steps closer, hands clasped behind her back. “They’re just in some tall grass. I kinda figured we’d keep hiding in bushes our thing.” Jeongyeon wiggles her eyebrows as she finishes speaking, and Jihyo is determined not to acknowledge it.  
  
Instead, she closes the distance between them and presses a kiss to Jeongyeon’s lips, well aware of the way the other woman’s body immediately melts into hers. It’s the knowledge that two of Jeongyeon’s friends are yards away and that a banshee is nearby that stops Jihyo from deepening the kiss further.  
  
She goes to pull away, but she can’t resist one last quick peck, meeting Jeongyeon’s smile with her own.  
  
Several seconds pass with Jeongyeon just watching her, and it takes a raised eyebrow from Jihyo for Jeongyeon to turn around and actually retrieve her friends.  
  
Jihyo reminds herself that she has nothing to worry about. She’s a fully grown adult. She doesn’t need to be afraid of the friends of the woman that she happens to be spending time with and also kissing.  
  
She knows this, but as Jeongyeon walks towards her with two other figures in tow, Jihyo’s nerves skyrocket.  
  
Jeongyeon comes to a stop a few feet before Jihyo, raising her arm to gesture to the two strangers. “Jihyo, may I introduce you to my guild’s potions master, Myoui Mina.”  
  
The woman on Jeongyeon’s right steps forward, and the smile she gives Jihyo can only be described as sweet and welcoming. Much to Jihyo’s surprise, Mina moves past her extended hand and pulls her into a hug. Jihyo manages to move her arms quickly enough to avoid a collision, but the surprise lingers.  
  
“It’s an honor to meet you, Guildmaster Park,” Mina whispers. Jihyo hopes that her flinch isn’t noticeable.  
  
They pull apart, and Mina winks at her before stepping aside. Jihyo tries to think of any potions masters named Mina that Sana might’ve mentioned, but she draws a blank. Her memorized lists only encompass the hunters of the guild. She makes a mental note to rectify that.  
  
It’s a strange relief to have someone from Jeongyeon’s guild recognize her. She isn’t hiding from Jeongyeon, not quite. It’s just that Jihyo doesn’t know a non-forced way to bring up the fact that she’s the head of her guild. Being reminded that people actually knew who she was is almost comforting.  
  
The look on Jeongyeon’s face is one of true happiness at seeing Jihyo and her friend get along right away, and she introduces her second friend with audible excitement. “This is Son Chaeyoung. She’s a new recruit.”  
  
Mina laughs, slapping her hand over her mouth to try and muffle the noise as Chaeyoung begins to object. “Stop calling me new! I’ve been your lead artisan for three years. I made your stupid runes.”  
  
Jeongyeon says something back, but Jihyo ignores it in place of processing what she’s just learned. So this is the free-spirit who enjoys hoarding feathers and creating traps that shouldn’t even be able to function? Her name is equally as unfamiliar to Jihyo.  
  
Jihyo watches Chaeyoung and Jeongyeon bicker, noting the undercurrent of playfulness that runs between them. It’s clear that these two have tread this path many a time, and it reminds Jihyo of her friends.  
  
After a few more seconds, Mina steps between them. Her words are too quiet for Jihyo to hear, but they’re enough for Jeongyeon and Chaeyoung to cease fighting immediately. Jihyo’s already positive opinion of her doubles.  
  
Son Chaeyoung approaches her with an outstretched hand and slightly shy smile. “Hello. It’s nice to meet you.”  
  
There’s a slight deference in Chaeyoung’s eyes as she speaks, and Jihyo begins to suspect that everyone in Jeongyeon’s guild would recognize her on sight except for Jeongyeon. “You as well, Chaeyoung. Your runework was incredible, really.”  
  
Chaeyoung grins, and Jihyo is struck by just how young she looks. “Thank you! Knowledge about runes hasn’t been updated in decades. I think there’s a lot of room for improvement.”  
  
Jihyo can’t help but agree. She adds it to the list of things she needs to address when she gets back from this hunt.  
  
The four of them spend a few more minutes talking, and by the time Mina and Chaeyoung say their goodbyes, Jihyo is feeling pretty good about the whole thing.  
  
“I like your friends,” Jihyo says.  
  
Jeongyeon catches her hand, tangling their fingers together. “I think they like you too. Possibly too much.”  
  
Jihyo laughs. “What does that mean?”  
  
“It means,” Jeongyeon begins, “that, if my guildmaster hears about how much they like you, she’s going to want to meet you.” Jeongyeon’s face is pained as she finishes her sentence, and, once again, Jihyo wonders exactly who the hell is in charge of Jeongyeon’s guild.  
  
“Your guild has weird dating policies,” Jihyo says, tugging on Jeongyeon’s hand as she begins walking to the entrance of the catacomb. She swipes her thumb over the back of Jeongyeon’s hand.  
  
Jeongyeon laughs. “It’s not a policy. She’s just nosy. She calls it ‘protective’, but I know better.”  
  
Jihyo hums. “Well, that’s cute, then.” She stops walking as they come to the entrance of the catacombs. “It’s good to have someone looking out for you.”  
  
A shoulder bumps into hers. “We’ll talk again once you’ve met her. But speaking of daunting things, you ready to go kick some banshee ass?”  
  
The opening of the catacomb looms in front of them. Jihyo feels a trickle of excitement run down her spine. The hand not wrapped in Jeongyeon’s flexes. “Absolutely. Specter oil?”  
  
“Applied.”  
  
“Ear plugs.”  
  
“I haven’t properly heard a single thing you’ve said to me this entire time.”  
  
Jihyo tries to choke down her laugh, but then Jeongyeon is pulling her closer and her efforts fail.  
  
“You’re ridiculous.” Jeongyeon smells like leather and sandalwood, and Jihyo wonders if it’s strange to be so taken with someone’s scent.  
  
“Yes, but you’re the one who kissed me, so it’s more of a judgment on you.” Jihyo pulls back slightly at the word ‘kiss’ and notices exactly where Jeongyeon’s eyes fall.  
  
She’s tempted, for just a moment, to push Jeongyeon up against the wall and continue from where they left off last time, but she knows they have a job to do. She takes another step back, not missing the slight pout that forms on Jeongyeon’s lips. “We have work to do.”  
  
“Fine,” Jeongyeon grumbles. “Lead the way.” Jeongyeon is half-hidden in the shadows of the catacombs entrance, and it only makes her expression all the more amusing.  
  
Jihyo looks down into the dark entrance and then out to the sunny sky, already missing the warmth of the sun on her skin. “Take a deep breath,” she says. “I have a feeling this is going to be unpleasant.”  
  
//  
  
Jeongyeon looks at her, panting, dust and sweat streaked across her forehead, and Jihyo doesn’t think she’s ever been more attracted to someone. The skull Jeongyeon’s holding shatters as she tosses it across the room.  
  
“Are you okay,” Jeongyeon asks, voice raspy. “That was a few more undead than I was expecting.”  
  
“I’m fine.” Jihyo clears her throat. “A few cuts and scratches, but the potions are doing their job.” Jihyo wonders if Jeongyeon is aware of the fact that the front of her shirt has been torn, leaving her collarbones on clear display.  
  
“Awesome. This was fun.” The grin Jeongyeon shoots her is a proud but tired one, and it tempers the the heat slowly pooling in Jihyo’s stomach.  
  
“Let’s get out of here. I think this stale air is messing with my head.”  
  
Jeongyeon nods, and they begin the long trudge back to the entrance of the catacombs. Jihyo doesn’t say anything as they walk, just occasionally glances over at Jeongyeon as they make their way towards the surface. The cat eye potion is wearing off at this point, but she can still make out Jeongyeon’s shape in the dark.  
  
She reaches out a searching hand, pleased when it’s caught in Jeongyeon’s grasp.  
  
They’re at the entrance now, one staircase separating them from the fresh air, when Jeongyeon pauses. “Mina and Chaeyoung are almost definitely done by now,” she says. “They’re probably waiting for us upstairs.”  
  
Jihyo nods. “That makes sense. We were down there for a few hours.”  
  
She moves to continue up the steps, but Jeongyeon pulls her back. “Jihyo,” she murmurs.  
  
The cat eye potion has worn off at this point, but enough light is streaming in through the edges of the catacomb door for her to see the look in Jeongyeon’s eyes. And the warmth comes rushing back.  
  
She steps forward. Jeongyeon steps backwards. The dance continues until Jeongyeon’s back meets the wall with a soft thud.  
  
“Are you sure,” Jihyo murmurs, fingertip tracing the curve of Jeongyeon’s jaw, “that you really want to kiss me in a tomb?”  
  
The light from outside catches the heat in Jeongyeon’s gaze. Jihyo can feel her jaw clench. “I just want to kiss you. Don’t really care where.”  
  
Their third kiss of the day is messy, but it sends a line of fire down Jihyo’s spine. She nips at Jeongyeon’s bottom lip and relishes the gasp that follows. Hands are in her hair, brushing over a bruise gained in the fight with the banshee, and Jihyo’s hiss of pain shifts into something closer to a groan when Jeongyeon’s grip tightens.  
  
Jihyo wants nothing more than to take this further, to keep pressing against Jeongyeon, keep kissing her until both of them forget about their other responsibilities. But, even as Jeongyeon’s tongue meets her in sure, even strokes that make her chest feel tight, Jihyo is well aware of the fact that there are people waiting for them upstairs.  
  
The skin of Jeongyeon’s neck is warm and smooth to the touch, and it takes all the self-control Jihyo possesses for her to pull her hands away and take several steps backwards. Jeongyeon chases her lips with a small whine, and Jihyo really, really wishes they were anywhere else right now.  
  
“We”—Jihyo pauses, breath stolen by the look Jeongyeon is sending her—”we have to go upstairs. I’m not making your friends stand out there while we make out.”  
  
“Then blame it on me,” Jeongyeon shoots back, reaching out for Jihyo. “Mina and Chaeyoung like standing outside. They’ll be fine.”  
  
Jihyo lets Jeongyeon pull her in, but she stops another kiss with a hand on Jeongyeon’s chest. “I feel like they’d disagree.”  
  
Jeongyeon’s head dips down, and their lips are only inches away now. Shadows created by their limited light stretch across Jeongyeon’s face. When she speaks, Jeongyeon’s voice is a strained, almost pleading, whisper, “Jihyo.”  
  
And Jihyo _wants_, but she knows that this isn’t the place for this. Still, she can feel the weight in the space between their lips. “Next time,” she says, clearing her throat and stepping back, heartbeat echoing in her ears, “we should just do an easy hunt. Spend a few days together.”  
  
“Oh,” Jeongyeon says, pulling back. “Why didn’t we think of earlier? Yes. Brilliant.”  
  
Jihyo nods, does her best to ignore the pull she still feels towards the woman in front of her. “Ready to go, then?”  
  
“Yes, but one thing first.” Jeongyeon clears her throat. “Pretend that you’ve just said the thing about the easy hunt.”  
  
Jihyo waits, the tone of Jeongyeon’s voice telling her to prepare for a ‘joke’.  
  
“Are you inviting me to—”  
  
Jihyo turns and begins walking to the exit, Jeongyeon’s laughter following her as she steps back into the sunlight.  
  
//  
  
One of the first things Jihyo does upon her return to her guild is head to Sana and Momo’s workshop. Neither woman looks up at her as she enters, both focused on their own tasks.  
  
Jihyo takes a moment to enjoy the sense of productivity around her. The metallic clanging from Momo’s side of the room provides an oddly satisfying contrast to the bubbling on Sana’s side.  
  
Jihyo walks towards Sana, taking care to avoid the multitude of in-progress potions that separate them. She knows they’re both busy at the moment, but she just wants to ask one simple question.  
  
“Hey, Sana.”  
  
The other woman hums, eyes flickering up briefly towards Jihyo in acknowledgment. “It’s good to have you back, Jihyo.” The words are rushed, but Jihyo knows that they’re sincere. There’s little that can come between Minatozaki Sana and her work. The moment she’s done, Jihyo is sure to be swept up into a hug.  
  
But in the meantime.  
  
“Do you know a Myoui Mina?”  
  
The reaction is instantaneous, and it comes from both sides of the room. Her eyes aren’t on Momo, but she knows the telltale sound of a hammer missing a sword and hitting an anvil instead. In front of her, Sana jerks back in shock, one of her hands completely losing it’s grip on the vial it had been holding.  
  
Jihyo watches as a vial full of something that looks an awful lot like dragon’s blood shatters on the floor. The deep red liquid pools at Sana’s feet, and, when Jihyo looks up, she finds the same shade adorning Sana’s cheeks.  
  
“Why do you ask?” Sana lets out a half-chuckle as she finishes her sentence, not moving to clean up the blood slowly seeping into her shoes.  
  
Jihyo feels like she should help, but her apprehension keeps her rooted in place. “She’s the potions master for Jeongyeon’s guild. I met her today.”  
  
Another clang from Momo’s side of the room, this time accompanied by a muffled curse.  
  
“Oh,” Sana responds, swallowing. “That’s so interesting.”  
  
“Is it,” Jihyo asks, eye boring into Sana. “How so?”  
  
“Oh, just, you know,” Sana says, trying to act calm. She moves to adjust her stance but barely avoids slipping in the pool of dragon blood below her. “Just. Yeah.”  
  
Jihyo’s never quite seen Sana like this, and Jihyo’s seen Sana in a wide variety of situations over the years. The closest she can remember is back when they were kids, when Sana had a habit of embarrassing herself in front of cute shopkeepers.  
  
“I don’t know, actually,” Jihyo says, a disbelieving understanding beginning to grow in her as Sana continues to fidget.  
  
“She and I. We just. It’s kind of like—”  
  
“Fuck!” Momo’s pained cry crashes through the workshop, and Jihyo turns to see a clearly-pained Momo clutching her shoulder.  
  
Jihyo rushes over, a detached calm coming over her as she reaches her friend. “Momo, what happened?”  
  
“I slipped on some oil I spilled earlier,” Momo grits out as Jihyo gently lifts Momo’s hand off of her arm. “I fell and hit my shoulder against a piece of metal I was working with.”  
  
The burn is a harsh red, and Jihyo can’t help but wince in sympathy. It’s small, but Jihyo knows it’ll be painful for a few days. She moves to grab ointment from Sana’s cabinet but is stopped by a hand on her shoulder.  
  
“Here,” Sana says, pressing a jar of burn ointment into Jihyo’s hands. “You apply this. I’ll go get some cool rags.” Sana hustles out of the room to do just that, but not before stopping to press a brief kiss to Momo’s forehead.  
  
Jihyo hears her mumble something that almost sounds like a ‘thank you’ but dismisses it to focus on applying the ointment as gently as possible.  
  
//  
  
Several days later, Jihyo enters the kitchen to find Sana standing over the stove and Momo sitting at one of the tables. She looks around the room, noting that it’s just the three of them in here at the moment.  
  
“Jihyo,” Momo exclaims, waving her over with a grin. “Come join me!”  
  
“Why is Sana at the stove,” Jihyo asks. “She hates cooking.”  
  
Momo shrugs, and Jihyo’s attention is caught by the bandage wrapped around her shoulder. “She owes me.”  
  
“For what?”  
  
The look on Momo’s face is a mischievous one, only amplified by the way Momo leans forward to rest her elbows on the table. “For being the world’s greatest and most self-sacrificing best friend. Saved her when she was in a pretty tight spot.”  
  
Jihyo could press further, but at this point, she knows that some questions are best left unasked when it comes to Sana and Momo. She pats Momo on the arm and stands, making her way over to the chef of the evening.  
  
Sana looks up when Jihyo’s about five feet away, an easy smile on her lips. “Welcome to my kitchen.”  
  
Jihyo chuckles. “Heard you have a debt to pay to a wonderful best friend over there.”  
  
The eye-roll the Sana does is fond, and Jihyo feels affection pull at the corners of her mouth. “I’m working on it. Don’t tell her”—Sana’s voice lowers to a whisper—"but what she did was probably worth at least two dinners.”  
  
Once again, Jihyo’s tempted to ask, but her curiosity over another matter wins out. “Actually, can I ask you something?”  
  
Sana straightens up, attention returning to the sizzling pan in front of her. “Sure!”  
  
“What’s the deal with Myoui Mina? Literal blood was spilled when I asked.”  
  
Unlike last time, Sana takes the question in stride. Though it does little to clear a certain suspicion from Jihyo’s mind. “Her and I met at a summit a year or so ago. She’s very pretty,” Sana sighs. “The first time I saw her I got so flustered that I added powdered newt’s eye to a potion instead of sliced newt’s eye.”  
  
Jihyo winces. “Oh no.”  
  
“Exactly,” Sana chuckles. “So I find myself, and my four students, completely covered in this orange goo, and quite possibly the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen is just staring at me with her mouth open. I almost died on the spot.”  
  
“Are you two,” Jihyo says, searching for the right word, “together? Or dating? Is that why you reacted like that?”  
  
Sana shakes her head, flipping over the meat in the pan in a way that’s almost bashful. “No. It would be nice, though.”  
  
Jihyo says nothing for a moment, just takes a second to wonder at the sight in front of her. Sana’s confidence when interacting with people is usually unshakable, or, at the least, it comes off that way. So for Myoui Mina to leave Sana staring down at a pan with a blush on her cheeks at the mere thought of her? She must be quite something.  
  
“She seems really sweet,” Jihyo says, thinking back to their meeting. “Effective, too. She was able to shut up Jeongyeon and her friend with just a few words. It— Wait.” Jihyo’s eyes narrow.  
  
Sana adds some salt. Momo yells something over about how she’s excited to eat a ‘meal of champions’.  
  
“You know what guild she’s in, don’t you?”  
  
I’m not telling you,” Sana says, shaking her head. “Jeongyeon will tell you when she wants to.”  
  
Jihyo’s jaw drops. So much for over two decades of friendship. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”  
  
“Nope.”  
  
“I’ll put you on stable duty for a month.”  
  
“No you won’t.”  
  
“You’re seriously not going to tell me? After months of me wanting to know?” Jihyo is a guildmaster, a revered figured across the land, and it is for that reason and that reason only that she holds back from stomping her foot.  
  
“Correct.”  
  
“I loathe you.”  
  
Sana smirks, winks, and Jihyo can’t hold back the scowl that crosses her lips.  
  
//  
  
Jihyo wakes to the sound of someone pounding on her door. She tries to open her eyes, but the weight of sleep holds them down.  
  
The woman in her arms shifts, and Jihyo tightens her hold. She’s extremely comfortable at the moment.  
  
“Never would’ve taken you for a dedicated cuddler.” Jeongyeon’s voice is soft, and it helps Jihyo remember where she is. “I’m gonna go see who’s at the door, but you need to let go, Jihyo.”  
  
Jihyo knows that she doesn’t want to let Jeongyeon out of bed, but the pounding on the door is growing more and more grating with each passing thud. Her arms slacken, and Jeongyeon slips away, taking her warmth with her.  
  
There’s a few seconds of clothes rustling, and then Jihyo hears the door open, hears Jeongyeon let out a noise of surprise, and then the door is slammed shut. Whoever Jeongyeon is talking with, she’s doing so loudly, and Jihyo tries her best to make out the words.  
  
“…hell are you doing here?”  
  
“Mina and…woman you’ve been crazy about…”  
  
“That doesn’t answer my question!”  
  
Jeongyeon doesn’t sound afraid, merely irritated, and Jihyo lets herself wake up slowly.  
  
“…the area for a diplomatic meeting…”  
  
“So why are you _here_?”  
  
“Jeongie, don’t play dumb.”  
  
Jihyo’s brow furrows at that. Jeongyeon never really struck her as the pet name type. She stretches, enjoying the way her bare skin moves against the sheets. The warg they had taken down barely put up a fight, and the aches in her body are ones that Jeongyeon put there.  
  
“…at least get me breakfast. I’ve been busy in meetings all day.”  
  
“You are insufferable. I’ll show you where to go.”  
  
“Can you get it? I actually got a room here, and I’m tired.”  
  
Something about the second voice strikes Jihyo as just a little too familiar. She blinks into the morning light, squinting at the door as if it would answer her questions.  
  
“Fine.” Jihyo stands, mildly concerned by the resignation she hears in Jeongyeon’s voice. “I’ll get your stupid food, but _stay here_.”  
  
“Absolutely.”  
  
Jihyo moves around the room, picking up and donning the clothes that had been discarded in a rush the night before. She makes her way to the door, but before she reaches it, the pounding begins again. “Open up, Park.”  
  
Jihyo freezes. That sounds like—  
  
“We need to talk.”  
  
Nayeon.  
  
Jihyo yanks open the door before she can think twice about it, jaw dropping when she does in fact see Nayeon on the other side of the door.  
  
Nayeon raises one eyebrow as she runs her eyes over Jihyo’s body and wrinkled clothing. “Huh. Never would’ve taken Jeongyeon as someone to use a hunt as a cover for a sexcapade, but I suppose even an old friend can surprise you.”  
  
Nayeon pushes past Jihyo as if it’s her room that she’s walking into, and all Jihyo can do is stare. Old friend? It reminds her of something, but the shock of seeing Nayeon here takes priority. “What the fuck are you doing here?”  
  
“I,” Nayeon says, dropping into the only chair in the room, “am here to make sure you’re not taking our rivalry too far and messing with my best friend’s heart.”  
  
Jihyo’s head is spinning. She suddenly feels as if she’s on the edge of some great understanding, but clarity is just out of reach. “How do you know Jeongyeon?”  
  
Nayeon raises an eyebrow, resting her chin on her palm. “Don’t play stupid, Jihyo. It’s beneath you.”  
  
“I’m not playing stupid,” Jihyo breathes. “I’m trying to figure out why you’re in my room in this inn located miles and miles away from our town, and I’m trying to figure out why and how the hell you sent Jeongyeon off to get food for you.” The volume of Jihyo’s voice rises as she continues talking, and by the end of her sentence, she’s slightly out of breath.  
  
Nayeon squints her eyes and tilts her head, straightening up. “You’re telling me you don’t know who Jeongyeon is?”  
  
“She’s Jeongyeon,” Jihyo exclaims, exasperated and confused. She raises a hand to her temple. This was supposed to be, and had been up until this point, a relaxing hunt and mini-vacation.  
  
But now Nayeon is here.  
  
Bothering Jihyo and talking to Jeongyeon and talking about Jeongyeon being an ‘old friend’, which—  
  
Jihyo’s entire world stops. Several pieces slot together, and the picture they form is one Jihyo doesn’t know how to process.  
  
Meeting Jeongyeon four or five months ago. Jeongyeon’s refusal to disclose her guild. The Im Guild’s numbers. Nayeon talking about an ‘old friend’ coming out of retirement. Sana’s insistence on not telling her which guild Mina belonged to.  
  
“She—”  
  
Nayeon watches her, gaze steady and filled with something close to sympathy.  
  
Jihyo swallows. “She’s your shadow.”  
  
Nayeon laughs, breaking the thread of tension that was slowly wrapping itself around Jihyo. “Please don’t call her that to her face. She hates it, understandably. But yes. I thought you knew already.”  
  
“You thought I knew,” Jihyo asks, voice disbelieving. “From the moment we met, she refused to tell me anything specific about her guild. How the hell would I know?”  
  
“You’re smart,” Nayeon admits, eyes dropping from Jihyo’s for the first time. “Two days ago, Mina and Chaeyoung finally told me that you were the woman Jeongyeon’s been going on about for months, and I knew I needed to talk to you.”  
  
“About what,” Jihyo asks, desperate to understand. It’s only by focusing on Nayeon’s face that Jihyo can stop herself from fully coming to terms with the fact that, for the past several months, she’s been falling for a woman she thought she only knew from the stories. The very same person that was responsible for Jihyo’s second place finish last quarter.  
  
Nayeon’s gaze lifts, and the severity in it takes Jihyo aback. “I needed to make sure you weren’t setting Jeongyeon up just to mess with me. There’s a reason her and I agreed to keep her identity a secret all those years ago.”  
  
It takes a moment, but when the full implication of Nayeon’s words hits her, Jihyo gets angry. “I would _never_ do that. You and I might not be the best of friends, but I’m not a monster, Nayeon. What the fuck is wrong with you?”  
  
Nayeon stays firm as Jihyo’s scathing tone strikes at her. “Jeongyeon’s been hurt because of me before. I’m not letting it happen again. You might think this is overkill, and I admit it’s a bit unfair towards you, but I don’t really care. Jeongyeon's always had far too much sympathy for things that can hurt her."  
  
Jihyo’s nails dig into her palm as she opens her mouth once more. She’s had a high opinion of Nayeon all these years, despite the fact that she grates against Jihyo like no one else. This, though, this is the closest Jihyo’s ever been to challenging her to combat.  
  
How dare she imply that Jihyo would ever sink so low? The gall—  
  
Jihyo notices Nayeon’s hands, see how one of them grips the arm of the chair so tightly that it’s knuckles are red. The other sits atop her leg, fingers drumming against her thigh.  
  
Nayeon is worried, Jihyo realizes. All of the anger building in her deflates.  
  
“I would never deliberately hurt her,” Jihyo says, pouring every ounce of conviction she can into her words. “Even if I had realized exactly who she was before this, I’d say the same.”  
  
Nayeon swallows, visibly relaxing. “Good.”  
  
“Besides,” Jihyo says, trying to shrug off the heavy mood in the room, “if I was going to go after you, Im, I’d do it directly. Who needs subterfuge when you can just punch someone in the face?”  
  
Nayeon laughs, high and bright, and Jihyo can’t resist joining in.  
  
A voice cuts through their amusement. “What the fuck?”  
  
Jihyo turns, meeting a very surprised and very confused looking Jeongyeon, arms laden with a tray full of breakfast.  
  
“Jeongyeon,” Nayeon exclaims, rising from her chair and crossing the room, “I would like to introduce you to someone.”  
  
“Introduce,” Jeongyeon asks, shooting Jihyo a questioning and slightly panicked look. “What do you mean introduce?”  
  
Nayeon throws an arm around Jeongyeon’s shoulder, pulling her into her side. The glasses on the tray knock into each other. “This,” Nayeon says, gesturing to Jihyo, who bites her lip to stop herself from laughing, “is Park Jihyo.”  
  
Jihyo wonders if Nayeon ever considered a career in the theater. She certainly has the flair for it. Though, Jihyo thinks, as she watches Jeongyeon’s eyes dart frantically between them, Nayeon would probably also do pretty well as a con artist.  
  
“Uh yeah,” Jeongyeon begins, chuckling nervously, “we’ve met.”  
  
“Mhm, I’m aware,” Nayeon says. “Let me try again.”  
  
Nayeon clears her throat. “Yoo Jeongyeon, founding member of the Im Hunter’s Guild, I would like to introduce you to Park Jihyo, head of the Setting Sun Hunter’s Guild.”  
  
Jihyo winces at the cacophanoy of noise that comes from the breakfast tray crashing to the floor. Nayeon's scream about porridge getting on her shoes mixes with Jeongyeon’s shocked yell, and Jihyo wonders how she didn’t see the resemblance sooner.  
  
//  
  
“Come in,” Jihyo calls, not looking up from the paperwork in front of her.  
  
The door opens and closes. Jihyo hears someone walk into her office, but then a few moments pass in silence.

Suddenly, someone whistles in appreciation. “This is much classier than Nayeon’s office. Not having a giant painting of you slaying a wyvern will do that, I think.”  
  
Jihyo’s head shoots up, surprise and happiness rushing through her. “You're here!”  
  
Jeongyeon’s grin is gentle, but the firmness with which Jihyo is hugged tells her that she hasn’t been the only one pining during the last few weeks. One of the downsides of dating someone with the talent for difficult hunts is their penchant for disappearing for weeks at a time. Jeongyeon’s nose nudges her cheek, and Jihyo turns, meeting her lips in a kiss.  
  
There’s a feeling she’s begun to associate with Jeongyeon after all these months, one that starts somewhere in her chest, a sticky warmth that slowly spreads through her. It grounds her, makes her yearn for simple days and long nights. She tries to nail down the feeling in more detail, give it a name, but nothing appropriate comes to mind.  
  
She knows what her friends would say, knows they’d simply call it ‘love’, but Jihyo thinks there’s more to it.  
  
Jeongyeon breaks the kiss, pressing her lips to the curve of Jihyo’s cheek, then her forehead. Her fingers tangle in the fabric of Jeongyeon’s shirt.  
  
It makes Jihyo feel like—Jeongyeon’s eyes meet hers, curved by her smile—she’s watching the sunset.  
  
She skims her hand up Jeongyeon’s side, fully intending on pulling her back into another kiss, but she pauses when her hand passes over a part of Jeongyeon’s shirt that feels strange. She steps back, Jeongyeon’s arms falling from their place around her neck.  
  
Jihyo sees what had thrown her off and let’s out a sigh. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”  
  
“Oh yeah,” Jeongyeon exclaims. “You like?” Jeongyeon plucks at her shirt, and Jihyo knows she’s not imagining the teasing tone of her voice. “Nayeon figured it was about time I start wearing it again.”  
  
Jihyo raises her gaze to the ceiling. She knows it’s not a coincidence that Jeongyeon is suddenly wearing the Im crest now that Nayeon knows her and Jihyo are together. She has to admit, it’s a jab well delivered.  
  
The Im crest is a surprisingly simple one, a shortsword with a flowering vine wrapped around it. And now Jihyo will be reminded of her rival guild every time she sees the woman she’s fallen for.  
  
“Don’t worry,” Jeongyeon says, stepping closer. “It’s only on a couple of my cloaks. I’m not that cruel.”  
  
Jihyo’s gaze stays on the ceiling even as arms slip around her waist. “You absolutely are. Both of you.”  
  
Jeongyeon chuckles, breath tickling Jihyo’s ear. She doesn’t say anything at first, just presses a warm kiss to the underside of Jihyo’s jaw. “I probably shouldn’t find it attractive that you’re rivals with my best friend, but, somehow, it works.”  
  
Jihyo drops her eyes to Jeongyeon’s cheeky grin and shoves at her shoulder, breaking their embrace. “Maybe us seeing each other outside of hunts was a bad idea.”  
  
“Mmm, I don’t know. I’m having fun so far, but speaking of hunts,” Jeongyeon drawls, reaching into her pocket. “There’s a village a few days from here that’s been having trouble with a griffin _and_ a bunch of wraiths. Nayeon already gave me leave, and Dahyun stopped me on the way up and told me to get you out of here so she could practice being in charge again.” She shows Jihyo the aforementioned bounty, waving it back and forth slowly.  
  
Jihyo tries not to smile.  
  
“What do you say?”  
  
“That depends,” Jihyo says, adopting a teasing tone, “will you tell me I’m pretty afterward?”  
  
A strangled noise of surprise leaves Jeongyeon’s throat, and Jihyo relishes the bright red now blooming across Jeongyeon’s face. The rolled up bounty comes flying in her direction, and Jihyo doesn’t even bother dodging, just laughs louder as it harmlessly bounces off of her shoulder.

It is, Jihyo thinks, truly a lovely thing to be in love.

**Author's Note:**

> I have finally written JeongHyo. The prophecy has been complete.
> 
> Thank you for reading! And be sure to check out the other fics posted. You won't be disappointed.
> 
> Catch me @2yeonaus on twitter or 2yeonaus on curiouscat if you wanna chat!


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